


Of Both Head And Heart

by unusuallyeddie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Happy Ending, I promise, M/M, Mental Hospital AU, Non-Hunter Winchesters (Supernatural), Sort Of, everyones mentally ill, its cuter than it seems, its weird and its gay what more could you ask, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 15:55:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19976671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unusuallyeddie/pseuds/unusuallyeddie
Summary: When Sam Winchester, the man who hears and sees the Devil, is put in a mental hospital, he doesn't expect to meet Gabriel, the man who has delusions of being an archangel.





	Of Both Head And Heart

Sam Winchester had been in the psych ward of Lawrence Hospital for three days, five hours, and two minutes. Not that he was counting, or anything.

The ward wasn’t very crowded. No, it only consisted of Sam, Castiel Novak (who was in there for severe depressive disorder), and Jo Harvelle (who was in for god-awful anger issues). Sam, however, wasn’t in for either of those reasons.

No, Sam could speak to the Devil.

Well, he couldn’t really. He knew his delusions were just that - delusions. However, it was hard to remember that when the Devil followed you around, making snarky comments and threatening your general well-being.

He didn’t even look like the stereotypical Devil. No red skin, no horns, no bat-like wings. Instead, he looked like a normal man. Shorter than Sam, with short blonde hair and a fashion sense much like Sam’s brother, Dean. The only thing even remotely inhuman about the Devil was his flaking skin, from where he said his vessel couldn’t quite contain him. That’s why he needed Sam.

Sam would be the Devil’s destined vessel. 

So, naturally, upon hearing this for the first time, Sam checked into the nearest mental hospital and refused to do anything the Devil said, like giving in, or just calling him Lucifer.

His aforementioned brother, Dean, visited during the allotted visiting hours - every day at six pm. It was the only time Dean wasn’t late for something. The two brothers never discussed how their father didn’t come. 

It was boring in the hospital. Not to be ungrateful for it keeping him safe or anything, but Sam couldn’t help but hate everything about the place. The doctors were kind, but he couldn’t stand their pitying looks. The group therapy was dull and the other two clearly knew Sam had it the worst of them, and treated him as such. He had to wait for medication that didn’t work, wait for food that tastes like cardboard, and he had no idea when he would be let out.

Most people only stayed for a week.

Sam had a feeling he would be there for much, much longer.

~

Sam was woken up in the middle of the night by a large crashing noise coming from the common area, followed quickly by a yelp from an unfamiliar voice.

He crept out of his room to see what must’ve been the new patient Nurse Bobby had mentioned, only to catch sight of a young looking man, short, with blonde hair and eyes Sam couldn’t see in the dim lighting. He, however, saw Sam. 

“Well, hello beautiful - JESUS!”    


A newer nurse took the opportunity to practically tackle the newcomer and wrestle him into a chair. The patient wrested and writhed, but two more nurses restrained him, and the first nurse pressed a needle into his forearm. The blonde man continued to protest, but his words slurred, and eventually his head nodded to the side.

Sam watched in horror. They sedated the poor guy? What did he do?

One of the nurses caught his eye and grimaced. “Sam-”   


“What did he do?” Sam demanded.

“He’s dangerous.” The nurse explained. “Thinks he’s some sort of avenging angel, he tried to kill us on the way up. He hasn’t eaten or slept in days because he insists he doesn’t need to. This was a necessity.”   


Sam’s eyes narrowed as he looked over the sleeping man. He was small, barely looked capable of hurting a fly, much less attempted murder. But of the nurses said so...he guessed they could be right, even if his instincts were screaming not to trust it.

“Alright.”   


~   


Sam was introduced to the newcomer at breakfast the next morning.

Sam had gotten up as early as always, his natural body clock working against him, and had sat down at the table in the common area. Castiel was next to filter in, having really bad insomnia to match his depression, sitting across from Sam with a stoic nod. Jo wouldn’t turn up until near the end of breakfast, as per usual. She spent a lot of time sleeping, claiming it calmed her down.

Sam was surprised, however, that the new man was the next to come out. He expected the sedation to last longer - it had with him.

The blonde looked at the food in mild disgust, looked at Castiel with vague interest, and then looked at Sam and grinned lecherously. “You know, when I caught a glimpse of you last night, I thought I was dreaming.”   


Sam raised an eyebrow. Great. A flirt. He silently turned back to his breakfast, not noticing the sudden silence in his head.

“Aw c’mon, Samsquatch, don’t be like that!” The man laughed, and while it was cute, it wasn’t what caught Sam’s attention.

“How do you know my name?” He said curiously. The nurses probably gave it out, he reasoned mentlly. But it was still odd.

The man waved him off. “Oh, I know everything. Perks of being an archangel, yanno?” He grabbed a piece of bacon and chowed down obnoxiously.

Right. Delusional.

Castiel watched the interaction curiously. “You believe yourself to be an angel?” He said slowly, almost hopeful in his tone. But no, Sam must be reading that wrong. Right?   


“That’s right…” He paused for dramatic effect. “...baby bro.”   


“Gabriel.” Castiel greeted warmly, more warmly then Sam had ever seen him.

“Cassie!” The man - Gabriel - cheered.

Sam rubbed his face tiredly with one hand. “Castiel, please tell me you don’t think  _ you’re  _ an angel, much less this guy.”

Castiel shrugged, going back to his burger. It was all he ever ate.

“C’mon, Sammy.” Gabriel started, but Sam cut him off.   


“Don’t call me Sammy.”

Gabriel raised his hands placatingly. “Alright, Sam. Have you noticed that ever since I came in, my brother- or as you know him, the Devil - hasn’t been talking?”   


Sam frowned, focusing. Come to think of it, the Devil had been silent for a while now, which was unusual, but… 

“Coincidence.” He declared.

Gabriel looked at him, unimpressed. “And they told me you were the smart one.” He grumbled, going back to his food.

Sam sighed, decided not to argue with someone crazier than he was, and went back to his food as nurses swarmed in to take their vital signs.

~   


Jo ended up not waking up until it was time for group therapy, doing a quick double take as she saw Gabriel chatting away with Castiel. “Who are you?” She demanded.

Sam quickly stood to diffuse the threat - Jo usually listened to him - but Gabriel took it in stride. “Gabriel. Archangel. And your name, miss?”   


“Jo. Nice to see we have someone crazier than Sam.” She said matter-of-factly before taking her seat to Sam’s right. Gabriel opened his mouth to reply, one eyebrow arched to the high heavens, when nurse Bobby walked in and sat down heavily.

“Alright, now let’s get started with group.” He said in his usual gruff manner, opening up his binder with all their information. “Let’s start with the fresh meat. Gabriel, I’m-”   


“Robert ‘Bobby’ Singer, I  _ know _ .” Gabriel said, drawing out the ‘o’ in ‘know’ to fully emphasize his boredom. Sam stared at him in disbelief. 

Bobby squinted at his for a bit, before muttering something under his breath and continuing. “What brings you here?”   


“You already know.” sassed Gabriel.

“Say it for the benefit of the group, boy.”   


Gabriel rolled his eyes - golden, Sam noted - and said tonelessly, “I’m an archangel who has lost my grace, and since I can’t prove my angelic awesomeness I was locked up and believed to be a delusional human.” He sneered on the last word, as though it were a curse.

_ Stay away from him, Sam. He’s dangerous. _

Sam dug his thumb nail into his palm to get rid of the Devil, who had materialized behind Castiel, across from Sam himself. It didn’t work.

_ I’m serious Sam, stay away from him. Bad news all around. Either that or let me talk to him, yeah? _ _   
_

No. 

_ Yeah, that’s what I thought. _

“Sam? You still here, boy?” Bobby waved a hand in front of Sam’s face, and he jumped, Lucifer vanishing in the background.

He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face, ignoring the way Gabriel was staring at him knowingly. “Uh...Satan. You know how it is.” He said awkwardly, ignoring the blonde.

Bobby frowned. “Meds still ain’t working?”   


Sam shook his head, and the older man sighed.

“Well, we’ll just keep on trying.”   


~   


Group ended eventually, and Sam tried to bolt to his room, but Gabriel caught up with his quickly.

“He wants to talk to me, doesn’t he?” He said, eyes bright and a little too wide. He was bouncing up and down on his toes. “We were always close before he went...ya know...crazy.”   


“You’re one to talk.” Sam muttered, side-eyeing Gabriel. “Besides, I’m not letting him talk to you.”   


_ Do it, Sam. We’re brothers.  _ The Devil taunted.

“Do it, Sam. We’re brothers.” Gabriel pleaded.

Sam stared at him in horror, trying to process that the in sync sentences we’re just coincidence. “No.”   


Satan appeared behind Gabriel with a long silver blade as Gabriel started explaining reasons why he should speak to his brother, and he started to push the blade through Gabriel's head. Gabriel kept talking, but Sam couldn’t take in the words, not as he was watching the blood pouring from his mouth onto his hospital-issued scrubs.

“Sam? What’s he doing to me?” Gabriel said softly, knocking Sam out of his trance. 

Sam stared over Gabriel’s head at Lucifer, who was smiling coldly and waggling his fingers as he twisted the blade. “He’s...he’s stabbing you. In the head. With a weird, long blade. He’s twisting it now…” Only practice kept Sam from dry-heaving as maggots crawled from the wound in Gabriel's head. “Oh Christ…”   


Gabriel rolled his eyes and turned around. “Oh fuck off big bro, you always were a dramatic piece of shit.”   


Lucifer pulled a face and vanished.

Sam’s eyes widened. “How the hell did you do that?” He demanded, perhaps a tad too aggressively, for Gabriel took a step back.

“I told you, he’s my brother.” Gabriel explained calmly. “He won’t listen to me all the time, but if I had my grace I could forcibly extract him.”

“Angels aren’t real.” Sam said, more to himself than anything. “The Devil isn’t real. I’m just crazy. You’re just crazy.”   


Gabriel smiled sadly. “Do you really believe that?”   


~   


Dean stares at him from across one of the visors tables. Jo and her mother are at the other one, but Sam can’t see them. “So let me get this straight…” He said slowly.  “There’s a new guy convinced he’s the archangel Gabriel, except he’s lost his super awesome angel powers, and he can make Satan go away?”

Sam groaned, burying his face in his hands. “It sounds even worse when someone else says it.”    


“You know what I think? I think the guy’s crazy, and that your crazy is picking up on it and channeling his crazy so that the two crazies work together.” Dean nodded, as though his theory made perfect sense.

Sam just stared at him. 

“No?” Dean said.

“No.”   


Dean threw his hands up. “Well, I tried. Good luck dealing with your little angel buddy.”   


Sam sighed, long-suffering. “Thanks Dean.”   


~   


This time, it was Sam who cornered Gabriel, because dammit, he wanted answers.

“Can you prove it?” he demanded, gently grabbing Gabriel by the arm after lunch. 

Gabriel cocked an eyebrow. “Prove what?” He asked, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Sam levelled him with an unamused bitchface and sighed. “Your...archangel-ness. Can you prove it?”   


Gabriel looked around for nurses, leaning into whisper. “Here’s a secret, kiddo. I didn’t actually lose my grace, I’m just hiding from my people. You feel?”

Sam was unimpressed. “Ok, so either you’re telling the truth, or you’re crazier than I thought.”   


“I’ll prove it then.” Gabriel said, and snapped his fingers.

A nurse walking by froze. The giant clock in the hallway stopped ticking. It even felt as though the air had stopped circulating. Sam held a hand up, noting the goosebumps coating his skin. “What did you do?” He whispered, half in horror, half in awe.

“Froze time.” Gabriel shrugged. “Cassie should be noticing any second now.”

“Cassie…?”   


Castiel - or apparently, Cassie - rounded the corner, frowning heavily at Gabriel. It was the most expression Sam had ever seen on his face. “I thought you lost your grace?” He snapped. It was clearly a sensitive subject.

Gabriel suddenly looked very, very uncomfortable. “Cas-”

But Castiel was already walking away.

Gabriel sighed, turning to Sam again. “Castiel really did lose his grace. He Fell for humanity, years and years ago. That’s why he’s so..what’s the word? Depressed all the time.”   


“And you faked it.” Sam said slowly.

“You have to understand, Sam.” Gabriel pleaded. “They’re out to get me. I ran away from Heaven when Lucifer Fell. If they find out I’m on Earth, there will be literal Hell to pay.”   


Sam nodded. He guessed he could understand not wanted to be tortured by Heaven’s means. They were probably fairly horrific. Then something dawned on him. 

“Does that mean…” He gestured to his own head. 

Gabriel winced. “Yeah.” He muttered. “That’s, that’s really Lucifer. I can feel his presence.”   


Sam felt his first spark of hope since everything had begun. “So you can force him out! You said it yourself!” The archangel grimaced, and Sam’s hope began to fade. “Or were you just talking out of your ass?”   


_ He was. He is. His power doesn’t hold a candle to mine. You’re stuck with me, Sammy. _

“I can…” Gabriel said, watching Sam closely, as though he could hear the Devil. “But it will hurt. More than anything you’ve ever felt. And we’ll have to get out of here first.”

_ You can’t escape me. _   


Sam thought for a second, then nodded.

“Alright. But we’re taking Castiel.”

~   


Ten minutes and one graceless angel later, the three were crowded in the common area, miraculously unbothered by the nurses, whom Gabriel all had conveniently go on their break. Castiel still looked vaguely disgruntled, but Gabriel had promised his he’d help get his grace back, so he was much more willing to go along with their plan.

“Alright. This is it, boys.” Gabriel said, grinning maniacally. “Anyone have a place we can crash at after this?”   


“My brothers and my house.” Sam volunteered. “He won’t ask too many questions.”   


Gabriel nodded. “Ok, ok. We’re gonna fly out. Sammy, this may be a bit uncomfortable.” And with that warning, he stretched up to touch Sam’s forehead, and everything went briefly dark.

~   


Sam appeared in his brothers backyard, where Dean stood on the porch, a beer in one hand and a knife in the other that he had obviously just pulled from his pocket. 

“Sammy?” He said incredulously, pocketing the knife. “How did you-”   


He was cut off by Castiel appearing next, then Gabriel, who looked Dean up and down and muttered something about “fan _ tast _ ic genetics”.

Dean looked like he was about to scream. “How many strange people are gonna show up in my backyard?” He asked tightly.

“Just us.” Sam responded.

Dean nodded. “Better come inside then, and tell me exactly what the hell is going on here.”

~   


A few beers and a lot of listening later, Dean was pretending to be calmer. “So your angel buddy is actually an angel, the hot depressed guy is also an angel, and the voice in your head is actually Satan, so you three broke out of a mental asylum and showed up in my backyard to extract the Devil and give angel number two his grace back?”   


Sam scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, uh, that sums it up pretty well.”   


Dean nodded, went to the other room, and let out a blood curdling scream that made Sam flinch. The two angels didn’t react. Dean came back in, nodding again. “Alright, how do we do this?”   


~   


After a brief discussion, Gabriel decided on dealing with Sam first, because “I think I’m in love with his face and don’t want Lucifer to mess it up”. This comment caused Sam to roll his eyes and Dean to turn an ugly shade of puce.

Sam found himself being tied down to a bed so he couldn’t thrash, and gagged so he wouldn’t get the police called.

“Is it really gonna hurt that badly?” Dean fretted as masculinely as he could, which wasn’t very. 

“Yes.” Gabriel deadpanned, going back to tying a knot.

Castiel, seeing Dean’s distress, placed a steady hand on his shoulder. “Sam will be alright. He is strong.” He said firmly, and Dean went a funny shade of pink, and nodded.

“Alright Sam. You ready?” Gabriel said, sounding oddly serious, his sharp features drawn in a concentrated look.

_ No. You’re not. It won’t work. You’re stuck with me. _

Sam nodded. 

“You asked for it.” Gabriel said, and placed his hands to the other man’s head.

Pain.

Sam screamed, arching off the bed. It felt as though every molecule, every nerve in his body was aflame. Vaguely, he could hear the Devil screaming too, felt him clinging on, tighter and tighter and tighter and then - 

And then he was gone. 

The pain stopped.

Sam slowly opened his eyes, taking in Deans chalky white face, taking in Castiel’s concern and Gabriel’s wariness. “He’s gone.” He said, voice hoarse from screaming. “Can you untie me now?”   


Dean sagged into a chair, rubbing a hand over his face. Castiel released a small smile, and Gabriel whooped happily as he snapped his fingers and the bonds fell away.

Sam was quick to sit up and pull Gabriel into a fierce hug. “Thank you.” He whispered, the implied ‘sorry I didn’t believe you’ staying silent between the two of them.

Gabriel patted his back awkwardly. “Maybe you could thank me by taking me out to dinner, eh?” He joked, but when Same pulled back, he could see the nervousness in his eyes.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” He said casually, laughing as Gabriel’s eyes widened.

After all, dating a cute archangel didn’t exactly sound like a chore to him.

~   


And so life went on. Gabriel fed Castiel his grace little by little, until Castiel could replenish his own. The two angels wrecked havoc together, whether it was Gabriel's pranks or Castiel unintentionally flustering Dean to no end.

Overall, the four of them were happy.

And in the long run, isn’t that all that really matters?

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing this since I got out of the hospital myself, about three weeks ago. It was great fun.


End file.
